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When it comes to product development and marketing, millennials can cause a severe headache for marketers, due to being very different from Generation X and Baby Boomers. Many companies struggle to deliver an efficient strategy capable of making generation Y interested in products and services. Knowledge of how to effectively market to millennials is becoming increasingly valuable, considering that in the US alone, the number of those born between 1980 and 2000 is at 92 million, compared to 61 million in Generation X, and 77 million Baby Boomers, according to the US Census Bureau. In terms of product development, companies try to stay afloat by adjusting and refreshing their strategy to the interests of millennials, although some miss the fact that it's now Generation Y who is in charge of shaping their own customer experience.
Before building a millennial-orientated strategy, companies need to learn about the profile of those they are selling to. They are not particularly rich, the Goldman Sachs Millennials Coming Of Age study shows that this generation has less money to spend due to lower employment levels and being tied up with student loans. Additionally, there is a lack of interest in owning products. This is bad news for some retailers, car manufacturers and property markets, as according to the same study, millennials are more appealed to renting, using services and fostering the ’sharing economy'. There is also a growing tendency in millennials to live with their parents rather than own a home, as well as they are fewer marriages or settling down. Goldman Sachs Global Investment research discovered that the median marriage age in 2010s has reached 30 years old, compared to 23 in the 1970s.
Another challenge is that millennials are savvy enough to set up their own business and often have the same chance of success as mature business people. They may lack experience but they effectively fill this gap with the knowledge of their own increasingly prevelant generation and technological advances. Thus, it's worth considering filling your corporate environment with those who know the target audience, making up a larger proportion of your customers.
During one of the Collision events (one of the America's tech conferences), millennial marketers gathered to discuss 'how to market to millennials'. Their approach of sharing critical information didn't disappoint, instead of using Power Point slides, they were confidently addressing the importance of digitization and the use of the latest technology for e-commerce, business strategies, and content marketing. But the main message from Generation Y marketers was, 'millennials don't want to be sold to as much as engaged with.'
Elite Daily partnered with Forbes, conducted a study that aimed to learn more about millennials' consumer behavior, and they found that millennials aren't influenced by advertizing at all, with only 1% among 1,300 young respondents admitting that such traditional method had boosted their trust in a brand. According to the same survey, 43% of millennials said they value authenticity over content. Traditional media is not considered authentic, whereas blogs are, even if they are run by individuals. Trust is critical since millennials may skip the content if it was published by a company or website they don't know well. Millennials are well aware of what technology can deliver, thus, they expect brands to give them personalized and unique customer experience and to be more socially conscious.


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Salesken, an artificial intelligence startup, has secured $22 million in a Series B funding round backed by Microsoft’s Venture Fund M12. The round of funding also featured participation from existing investor Sequoia India.
Salesken plans to use the fresh capital to speed up its operations in the North American market and to invest heavily in its proprietary deep tech solutions. Abhi Kumar, M12 partner, will join as a new member of Salesken’s board of directors as a result of this fundraising.
The company claims to offer conversational support to sales representatives based on a behavioral and data-science-driven model. The solution gives insight on several factors, including sales pitches, lead qualifications, and handling pricing discussion among many others.
The Bengaluru-based startup, founded in 2020 by Sreeraman Vaidyanathan and Surga Thilakan, delivers an AI-driven in-call live sales intelligence platform that increases revenue per representative by accumulating insights on inefficiencies in customers’ sales calls and facilitating sales representatives in bridging gaps with real-time inputs.
Surga Thilakan, co-founder and CEO of Salesken, stated that the startup aims to grow its 125-personnel team to 250 over the next year (March 2022), with improved hiring across technology, data science, and partially hiring in the US for sales and marketing expansion.
Conversation AI (artificial intelligence) technologies that provide visibility and analytics to sales executives have become a must-have in the sales stack as remote selling becomes more widespread across sectors. She also noted, “Salesken is addressing a fundamental requirement in the future of making insights actionable with sales reps, resulting in increased rep productivity.”
Surga claims that Covid has introduced remote selling practices to other more traditional businesses that were originally handled through outside sales. She went on to say that inside sales is now a reality and will be around for a long time as organizations recognize the efficiency and cost savings of selling remotely using cloud telephony and video conferencing.
Salesken claims that its platform reduces onboarding time by 2-3 months by providing live assistance to sales reps from day one. The Bengaluru-based startup further claims to enhance the top-line of organizations by 20-25 percent after a few months of adoption and has grown more than 300 percent in the last year.
The global sales intelligence industry was valued at $2 billion in 2019 and is expected to climb to $3.4 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 11.4 percent. This increase is likely to be driven by the momentary demand for advanced software to improve consumer targeting and connect rates, as well as the rising demand for data enrichment software to optimize sales conversions.

domain: news


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Vietnams population demographic is among the youngest in the world with 56% of the population under the age of 30 (according to the Nielsen). Total consumer spending in Vietnam is expected to double and reach approximately $173 billion USD by 2020. Vietnam's consumer spending growth rate during 2011-2020 is forecast to be the highest in the ASEAN region at 8% which is 5% higher than Indonesia and Malaysia and 4% higher than the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore (source: Euromonitor, Global Insight and Bain Analysis). Many reports from international market research firms share the idea that Vietnam is emerging as a promising consumer goods market.
Having an advantage in Market Expansion Service (MES), including distribution chain management and branding, Digiworld has expanded the business into FMCG industry.
For information about FMCG products distributed by Digiworld, visit here


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Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) beat analyst estimates by not one or two cents, but by a full twenty cents when it reported earnings that grew 73% yesterday evening. The company reported earnings of $818 million on revenue of $5.41 billion, which grew 24% when compared to the same quarter last year. While iPod sales grew 21%, the number that caught everyone's eye was the 33% growth in Macintosh computers. There has been a lot of speculation in the past that iPod sales would eventually help Apple improve sales of its computers but it is ironic that this is happening at a time when the company has dropped "computer" from its name and is now known just as "Apple Inc" instead of "Apple Computer".
Apple sold 270,000 of its new iPhone device in the last two days of June, which happens to be a much higher number than the 146,000 activations reported by AT&T (NYSE:T) yesterday. This may have to do with the fact that activations of iPhones are not done at an AT&T store but from an iTunes account at home. The iPhone that I bought as a gift last week was not activated until a day later. If investors are not impressed by the sale of over quarter million iPhones in just two days, I have no idea what would impress them. Apple plans to sell about 1 million iPhones in this quarter and about 10 million in 2008. It would be interesting to see if Apple can achieve this number given the price of the phone, the two year contract required and the exclusive deal with AT&T.
After jumping all over the map, the stock closed up $12.92 or 9.4% to $150.18 in after hours trading. If the stock posts a similar jump in the regular trading session on July 26th, the trade I mentioned in my article Using Options To 'Strangle' Apple, Research in Motion would be very profitable. The call options should more than double in value while the puts would drop a lot but still retain some time value as expiration is more than three weeks away. I have seen stocks react to an event in a certain way during after hours trading and in a totally different manner in the following regular trading session.
Based on the reaction today, I will post an update to this blog post about my plan of action. Since the market has generally been weak, I will most likely sell the calls and the puts to complete the trade. Another alternative would be to sell an equal number of puts and calls (3 of each from the model portfolio), while retaining the extra call in hopes of further gains over the next three weeks.


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CHANTILLY, Va — Apr. 11, 2016 — AOC Solutions®, a leader in commercial payments technology, today announced that the company is launching Transact GlobalSM, an innovative processing platform dedicated exclusively to virtual card payments.
Purpose-built to solve the toughest payment needs in the B2B card payments marketplace, specifically those of multinational middle- and large-market entities, Transact Global has a cloud-based infrastructure that allows for maximum innovation, integration and efficiency. With this market-leading technology, AOC Solutions is poised to solve complex payment needs within the B2B electronic payment industry, both domestically and globally.
“Transact Global is designed to meet a growing market need for more efficient, more effective and less costly methods for virtual payment processing,” said Tre Cage, chief operating officer at AOC Solutions. “Issuing banks that adopt this technology will gain a significant financial and product edge over other processing platforms currently available in the marketplace.”
Available to financial institutions and their buying organizations, Transact Global provides increased control, reduced risk and more frequent processing. Transact Global also provides benefits to issuers, including a reduced cost per transaction.
About AOC Solutions: AOC Solutions Inc., headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, is a veteran-owned company whose innovative commercial payments technology, federal financial management, business process improvement, strategic planning services and solutions as well as contact center operations have been serving more than 400,000 corporate, government, public and private sector customers since 1996. AOC’s strategic relationships within the financial management and integration markets enable a streamlined approach to commercial payments from virtually any accounts payable or general ledger payments system in use today. AOC has also been named to the Inc. 500-5000 list of the nation's fastest-growing private companies six times, the latest in 2014. For more information, visit aocsolutions.com. You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.


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After a huge decline on Friday, a big rebound on Monday, and another sharp drop on Tuesday, it is safe to say that volatility is officially back just in time for September, which is usually one of the more volatile months historically.
In addition to the market’s volatility, investors’ interest is also being captured today by Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY), B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE:BGS), Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), and Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC). Let’s dive in and analyze why these stocks are generating buzz and see how the smart money was positioned in them at the end of the second quarter based on the latest 13F data.
Through extensive research, we determined that imitating some of the picks of hedge funds and other institutional investors can help generate market-beating returns over the long run. The key is to focus on the small-cap picks of these investors, since they are usually less followed by the broader market and are less price-efficient. Our backtests that covered the period between 1999 and 2012, showed that following the 15 most popular small-caps among hedge funds can help a retail investor beat the market by an average of 95 basis points per month (see the details here).
Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) are back in the headlines today after famed short seller Jim Chanos called the prospective merger between the two “the height of folly” and “crazy”. Chanos is particularly bearish on SolarCity, calling the company’s business model “just plain uneconomic.” He estimates that the combined entity would burn around $1 billion in cash per quarter if the merger went through. Chanos isn’t a fan of the companies’ corporate governance either and cites Tesla’s unwillingness to provide SolarCity with bridge financing despite the fact that their merger is pending.
In addition, Tesla could also be facing stiffer competition in the electric vehicle mass market segment in the near-term, courtesy of General Motors Company (NYSE:GM)’s Chevy Bolt, which goes 238 miles on a single charge, a number that might be greater than what the Model 3 will offer. Despite Chanos’ comments, some hedge fund managers are still fans of the two companies. Among the funds in our database, 26 had a long position in SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) on June 30, while 36 were long Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA).
Traders are talking about B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE:BGS) today after Reuters reported that the company is in talks to buy the maker of Mazola cooking oil, ACH Food Companiies Inc, from Associated British Foods Plc. Analysts think the division could be sold for as much as $300 million-to-$400 million. Although the two companies are in talks, there is no guarantee that the deal will be completed. Ric Dillon‘s Diamond Hill Capital inched up its holding in B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE:BGS) by 1% during the second quarter, to almost 2.4 million shares as of June 30.
On the next page, we’ll examine why Wal-Mart and Wells Fargo are in the spotlight this morning.
In the age of Tesla’s autopilot and Uber’s self-driving cars, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is joining the autonomous revolution with potential plans for an autonomous cart. According to CNN, the retailer was recently awarded a patent from the U.S. government for carts that have sensors, video cameras, and motors that might enable it to be autonomous. Experts speculate that Wal-Mart might eventually use the autonomous carts to better manage inventory and to help return abandoned carts back to the store (and save on labor costs). 58 funds in our system had a long position in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) at the end of June, up by four funds from the end of March.
In relation to the recent revelation that some of its former employees had purportedly created over 2 million fake customer accounts to juice numbers, Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) is back in the spotlight after its CEO, John Stumpf, placed the blame more on the employees who committed those shady acts rather than the company’s culture or systems. Wells Fargo has since fired over 5,300 employees associated with those practices. Stumpf said:
“I wish it would be zero but if they’re not going to do the thing that we ask them to do—put customers first, honor our vision and values—I don’t want them here. I really don’t.”
Stumpf also added that the bank as a whole did not have incentive to do those things. While he accepted responsibly for the crisis, he also stated that he will not resign. To prevent future occurrences and to hopefully quell the rising political controversy over the issue, Wells Fargo has curbed some cross-selling practices and will eliminate product sales targets in its retail banking segment beginning next year. 88 funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) at the end of June.


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Valkyria Chronicles' original antagonist Selvaria Bles appears to be immortal, at least in how many figures she gets in Japan.
That costume defies gravity.
Aaaaaand of course it's lewd. I guess that's one way to get Japan excited about the release of Valkyria Chronicles 4.
N4G is a community of gamers posting and discussing the latest game news. It’s part of NewsBoiler, a network of social news sites covering today’s pop culture.


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Nintendo sold 470,000 copies of Mario Kart 8
in the U.S. during the game's second month on sale, across both physical and digital channels, the company revealed.
At U.S. retail, MK8
was both the second best-selling game (behind Ubisoft's Watch Dogs
) according to the NPD Group, and overall best-selling single SKU -- meaning more copies of Mario Kart 8
were sold than any single version
of Watch Dogs
Nintendo says that drove sales of Wii U hardware up 233 percent year-over-year, but declined to provide numbers. Software sales for the system were up 373 percent year-over-year.
Microsoft also declined to provide numbers when it made a similar claim: the Xbox One sold more than twice as many units
in June as it did in May. That's because the company dropped its Kinect camera from the box (and shaved $100 off the system's price) starting on June 9.
It turns out that despite that, Sony's PlayStation 4 still outsold Microsoft's box in June, Sony said in a statement.
Console hardware sales were overall up over 200 percent year-on-year, the NPD Group said, but it did not provide any platform data.


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We encounter advertising every day – on the street, in the underground or on our own smartphones. More and more companies are using advertising to present their green image. But what about the carbon footprint of advertising itself?
Green is the dominant colour of advertising. This impression could quickly arise if one takes a closer look at the development or rather the appearance in marketing. On almost every product there is at least one green logo that stands for sustainability, biodiversity or a healthy attitude.
And the packaging is also becoming greener and greener. A tree here, a sprouting plant there: an ecologically oriented and sustainable attitude meets the zeitgeist. This is precisely why more and more companies are jumping on the proverbial bandwagon.
Greenwashing works (at least subconsciously)
It is also clear that greenwashing is involved to an extent that cannot be disregarded. Whether it’s a paper bottle being tested at Coca-Cola or the green electricity that Amazon or Deutsche Bahn use to offer some of their services makes little difference.
Despite all the obvious doubts about some sustainability initiatives, consumers subliminally retain a better image in their minds. As soon as exactly that happens, the advertising has succeeded in everything it set out to achieve.
CO2 footprint: How harmful is online advertising itself?
What often gets pushed into the background in all discussions about sustainability is the question about the advertising itself. Or more specifically: how high is the CO2 footprint created by digital advertising?
The employees of the Cavai marketing cloud dealt with precisely this question in a study. The result: online advertising alone consumes between 20 and 282 terawatt hours of electricity in a year.
According to the results of the study, the electricity consumption of the technical infrastructure needed to play out the advertising even amounts to 791 to 1,334 terawatt hours. These are generated, for example, by the data centres, the servers, the desktop screens or the apps on your smartphone.
Incidentally, the large fluctuation margins are due to the fact that the concrete consumption figures differ in the individual countries. This gives rise to average values.
CO2 footprint: online advertising vs. China, USA, Germany and co
As always, it is helpful to put the figures in perspective. According to Statista, China had the largest electricity consumption in the world in 2021 with 7,806 terawatt hours. The USA and India follow in second and third place with 3,979 and 1,443 terawatt hours respectively.
Germany, with just over 500 terawatt hours, is thus below the minimum consumption of the technical infrastructure. Spain, with its 234 terawatt hours, roughly corresponds to the CO2 footprint of pure online advertising.
This is the CO2 footprint of a single digital ad
Of course, the researchers have also broken down the figures to the smallest unit: According to them, between 0.08 and 1.09 grams of CO2 are produced by a single digital ad.
For comparison: this corresponds to an electric car driving between 0.4 and 9.65 metres or the consumption of an LED light bulb that shines brightly for between 30 and 700 seconds.
According to an interview with The Drum by Cavai CEO Steffen Svartberg, online advertising is responsible for around one percent of global CO2 emissions.
According to this, companies that really want to commit to more sustainability should not put up billboards for sustainable campaigns or place millions of online ads, but rather refrain from large-scale advertising campaigns. That helps the environment more.


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Novelis sees better H2 as profit sinks 74 pct year on year
* Earnings hurt by overcapacity in North American can market
* Novelis sees global flat-rolled product demand rising
NEW YORK Nov 11 (Reuters) - Novelis Corp said on Monday it expects better results in the second half of its fiscal year as it shifts its focus to the automotive sector after reporting a plunge in profits due to the saturated North American beverage can market.
Net income in the first half to end-September sank 74 percent to $37 million compared with the year-earlier period as sales fell 3 percent to $4.84 billion.
Overcapacity in the North American can market hurt year-on-year results, Novelis said. Shipments in the region were down 12 percent from last year and flat sequentially.
"The reallocation of some hot mill capacity towards high-growth, high-margin automotive sheet in this region (....) will help rebalance the North American can market," said President and Chief Executive Phil Martens in a statement.
Many aluminum producers say the metal, which is lightweight, is winning market share from steel in the automotive market.
Stricter fuel emissions rules in major markets mean cars have to become more fuel-efficient and less polluting, which in most cases means they will have to be lighter.
Novelis forecast on Monday annual global flat-rolled product demand will increase to 28 million tonnes by 2020 from 18 million in 2012, with growth from the automotive sector outpacing foil and beverage cans. Continued...


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We start with the heats in Wolverhampton, where three entrants in the Miss Black Country heat go through the rigorous rounds – interviews, bootcamp and catwalk – to see if they have what it takes to win the crown.
It's an expensive business with all the hair extensions, fake tans, nails and clothes needed, and with unemployment among women at its highest in the Black Country, the girls need all they can get to enter the contest.
There's 18-year-old Diamond, who was kicked out of school for being naughty and worries that she'll never find a job. Sammy Jo has been unemployed for two years and lives in a hostel with other jobless teens, and finally 19-year-old Natalie has been refused work in all sorts of places, so has started her own mobile hair extension business in order to buy the perfect pageant dress.
Beauty Queen or Bust, Channel 4, 9pm
Reveal is now on Google Plus! Join us here for the latest pictures, fashion and celebrity news!


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- Thursday 06 April 2017
Visit Sunshine Coast has partnered with Escape Travel to run their latest major campaign with a particular focus in Melbourne, Sydney and the emerging market of Adelaide from April 5-26.
The campaign, with the tagline "I want to feel refreshed" is one of the first campaigns launched under Escape Travel’s new "I want" brand campaign.
The "I want" brand campaign puts the focus on the customer and their individual needs and travel experiences, not just the destinations.
The Sunshine Coast campaign integrates the proven appeal of video and visuals from the recent VSC "Come to life" creative with print and digital placements, as well as window displays in 165 national stores, to entice people to plan a Sunshine Coast holiday.
CEO of Visit Sunshine Coast Simon Latchford said to encourage people to start planning and booking immediately, VSC is highlighting a range of travel packages located across the entire Sunshine Coast region from Caloundra in the south to Rainbow Beach in the north.
“One of our objectives for the campaign is to reinforce the new 'Come to life’ brand following its launch in February," Mr Latchford said.
"We are continuing to keep our foot on the accelerator to maintain the momentum and be in market consistently throughout the year."


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The SoftBank-led series D round is indicative of a startup space where logistics, buying and transport are moving closer together.
Roche has agreed to acquire oncology research platform Flatiron in a deal that valued it at $2.15bn, giving GV what would be its fifth latest life sciences exit since the start of November.
Joby Aviation has raised $100m in an Intel Capital-led series B round that included JetBlue Technology Ventures, indicating the rise in air-based corporate venturing.
SoftBank Vision Fund has acquired a sizeable stake in automotive e-commerce platform Auto1, its first Germany-based investment.
Didi Chuxing's reported $600m acquisition of a majority stake in its Brazilian counterpart indicates a new level to its expansion plans.
The Alphabet-backed spaceflight operator has extended its latest round to $450m, indicating the continued investor interest in space technologies.
International financial transfer platforms TransferWise and Remitly each announced nine-figure rounds last week, highlighting the growth of the sector.
The Tencent-backed online services provider floated above its range, showing the promise in Southeast Asia for Chinese internet companies.
Vision Fund's $2.5bn investment in Flipkart last week, together with its huge bets on Fanatics and Roivant, could indicate where it plans to invest in the longer term.


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Hotfix 1.1.2 is available now!
While we are working on a new major patch, we have decided to deliver a fix for one critical issue found today. A new patch will be shipped in upcoming days.
Here is the list of changes:
- Fixed crash which would occur after loading a savefile. It was connected to "Slowdown" spell.
Please remember that updates do not force you to start new playthrough! You can load your savegames and continue.
If there is an update that requires you to start a new game, you will be able to continue playthrough on the previous version anyway.
There are no plans for such an update for now.


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Bonus Waukesha Farmers Market to take place in downtown Saturday
Waukesha's Horse Emporium also hosting Used Tack and Storewide Scratch and Dent Sale
Those who love the Waukesha Farmers Market get to enjoy it a little longer.
That's because there will be a bonus market Saturday.
The Waukesha Farmers Market and the Horse Emporium are hosting a joint Farmers Market and Tack Sale from 8 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. at the Riverfront Plaza in downtown Waukesha.
Norm Bruce, who owns Martha Merrell's Books in downtown Waukesha, said this combined effort has gone on for the last several years.
He added that this is the Horse Emporium's (280 W. Main St.) annual Used Tack and Storewide Scratch and Dent Sale.
While not all of the more than 100 vendors that were present for the Farmers Market through the six-month season that ended last week, Bruce said vendors who still have goods will attend.
And individuals won't have to wait until next May to enjoy another 'Market' in downtown Waukesha as a Winter Market will begin Nov. 17 at Montecito Ristorante Lounge, 257 W. Broadway.
Your link to the biggest stories in the suburbs delivered Thursday mornings.
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- Cuddles shop in downtown Waukesha closing its doors
- Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas holding virtual Town Hall meeting on Twitter
- Storms do damage once again in Waukesha
- Driving lesson in Waukesha's Prairie Home Cemetery results in police call
- Ideal weather helps boost Waukesha County Fair attendance
- Waukesha stabbing victim receives military Purple Heart
- Shoppes at Fox River gets final approval from Waukesha Plan Commission
- City of Waukesha will have new system for garbage, recycling pickup in 2015
- Two more Waukesha-area forums focus on District 97 state race
- Community briefs: July 31, 2014 issue


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Obama for America’s team, or some troublemaker, is buying YouTube InStream pre-roll ads on a video featuring nude pictures of Scarlett Johansson. The President’s paid “follow-me” pitch introduces soft-porn. This is a classic example of what can happen when demographic targeting is not carefully conceived and channels properly vetted.
Revenue from YouTube InStream ads is shared with the video’s publisher, so a percentage of every dollar Mr. Obama spends functionally subsidizes celebrity hacker-porn. Google, owner of YouTube, is the middleman.
We were watching MSNBC this morning and Scarlett Johansson’s cease and desist letters, surrounding the nude picture leak, was a top story. Being curious and not readily familiar with Ms. Johansson, we had a look to see how Google was handling things. The obvious search was for “Scarlett Johansson nude pictures.”
The pictures had already been removed from most sites. However, a bit down in the search engine results, there it was…a racy video posted on the Mahalo.com YouTube channel. Now there’s some “high quality” [cough] content, as Mahalo promises in their YouTube profile blurb.
Imagine our surprise to fine that a pre-roll advertiser on the video is none other than our Commander in Chief, President Obama [cough again].
President Obama is actually in fine company. Various Scarlett Johansson pic-videos are also fronted by YouTube “In-streaming” ads for other mainstream advertisers. Nike is a member of the Scarlett Johansson soft-porn advertising club.
So is NBC.
It must be some careless YouTube demographic targeting which resulted in a pre-roll ad for Beneful dog food. Bow wow!
President Obama is most likely not aware that someone is schilling his brand introducing hacked nude pictures of a celebrity via YouTube ad units. The big boss does not seem like that kind of guy, so perhaps he’ll have a word with whoever set up the ad’s demographic targeting.


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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Nikola CEO Mark Russell downplayed the company’s Badger pickup truck in comments to the Financial Times on Thursday. “The Badger was an interesting and exciting project to some shareholders, but our institutional shareholders are mostly focused on the business plan,” Russell said. “Our core business plan since before we became publicly listed always focused on heavy trucks and hydrogen infrastructure.” Russell’s comments were published after markets closed on Thursday. Nikola’s stock price plunged on Friday morning and is currently down about 14 percent for the day.
Negotiations with General Motors to design and build the truck have dragged on weeks longer than expected. Nikola and GM announced a wide-ranging partnership on September 8. It envisioned GM not only building the Badger but also supplying the batteries and fuel cells that power the trucks. Under the deal, GM would also supply hydrogen fuel-cell technology for Nikola’s semi trucks outside the European market. Nikola was supposed to give GM $2 billion worth of stock to license GM’s technology, reimburse GM to build out a Badger factory, and then pay GM on a cost-plus basis to assemble the Badger. The value of Nikola’s stock soared immediately after the September 8 announcement, but it then tanked after a short-selling firm revealed that Nikola CEO Trevor Milton had lied when he said Nikola’s first truck, the Nikola One, was fully functional. Nikola has admitted that a promotional video showed the truck rolling down a hill, not traveling under its own power. The price decline has made GM’s expected $2 billion stake in Nikola worth much less.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.


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Casa Systems wild ride on the Nasdaq took a sharp upward turn after the technology company reported a sales rebound in the second quarter.
The telecom tech company reported Q2 revenue of $52.1 million, meeting guidance. The performance was off significantly from the year-ago revenue haul of $68.7 million, but represented a strong 47% increase over Casa’s moribund first-quarter sales. Casa and other cable access tech vendors reported stagnant orders in Q1, as operators stood frozen in place, mulling migration to distributed access architecture (DAA) and converged cable access platform (CCAP) virtualization.
But orders are now coming in.
Casa’s stock price increased more than 15% Thursday after falling around the same percentage earlier in the week. That was after Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold downgraded the company, suspecting one of the large European companies now buying millions of dollars worth of DAA and virtualization gear and software from competitor Harmonic is actually major Casa client Liberty Global.
Casa CEO Jerry Guo told investors that he expects to see a continued sales uptick, “driven by capacity-related purchases by our cable customers and revenue recognition from wireless backlog.”
Guo said Casa is also establishing its own momentum with virtualization and DAA tech sales.
“In fact, our cable trials increased in the quarter by 53%, the vast majority of which was driven by existing and new consumer interest in our DAA, virtual CCAP core and new BDM products,” said Guo.
Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!
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Chip maker Texas Instruments Inc. on Monday reported a 28 percent increase in first-quarter profits but its outlook for the second quarter fell short of Wall Street expectations and said it has experienced some slowing in sales of its chips for cell phones.
The Dallas-based company earned $662 million, or 49 cents per share, for the quarter ended March 31, compared with $516 million, or 35 cents per share, a year ago. The company said it has been focusing more on analog chips, which are often more profitable than digital varieties.
Revenue grew 3 percent to $3.27 billion from $3.19 billion in the year-earlier period. While revenue for chips used in cell phones and other wireless products dropped 18 percent from the fourth quarter, a period which would ordinarily experience a decline of 5 percent said Ron Slaymaker, TI's vice president of investor relations.
Analysts were expecting earnings of 16 cents a share on revenue of $315.5 million, according to an estimate from Thomson Financial.
The Nasdaq-100 After Hours Indicator, which tracks the evening action of the tech-heavy index's leading stocks, lost 5 points, or 0.3 percent to 1,908.
TI stock was down 2.1 percent to $29.96 after the chip maker forecast earnings per share of 42 cents to 48 cents in the second quarter, with revenue between $3.24 billion and $3.5 billion. Analysts had been estimated the company would earn 48 cents per share in the second quarter on revenue of $3.44 billion.
Given uncertainty in the near-term economy, we have become more conservative with our outlook for the second quarter, said Chief Executive Rich Templeton in a statement.


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Land tax hike harms small businesses
By Sunny Liu
The recent state government hike on land tax for property owners has forced many small businesses out of the CBD, according to business owners and experts.
In November last year, the Victorian Government announced it would conduct valuations on land annually instead of every second year.
This change means property owners with commercial and residential land valued at or more than $250,000 will face more frequent land tax and council rate hikes as each year the land value increases.
Local CBD business owners described the policy change as “appalling”, which has played a major factor in some of the recent closures of iconic CBD retail shops.
Owner of the recently-closed Bourke St classical music store Thomas’ Music, Elisabeth Vodicka, said the steep increase in land tax had made the business unviable.
“The amount of land tax we pay has doubled ever since the new policy was put in place. It’s just appalling. How can the CBD’s retail industry survive when they do things like that?” she said.
David Beanham, owner of Modak Motorcycles on Elizabeth St, which had operated in the CBD for 88 years before it closed in February, said the land tax hike was the “final nail in the coffin” for his business.
“The policy introduced by the state government has more than doubled the amount of land tax we pay. Running a business is an economic proposition and we can’t be here forever without being profitable,” he said.
Both business owners expressed their frustration towards the lack of understanding of small business by the Victorian Government.
“It’s not a very supportive environment for small businesses at all,” Ms Vodicka said.
“Melbourne’s going to be left with a whole lot of chain stores and cafes, restaurants, bars and nail salons. It’s not going to be very interesting,” she said.
Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas said the changes would make land valuations in Victoria “fairer and more consistent”.
CBRE and law firm Minter Ellison co-hosted a seminar on the impact of the state government’s land tax hike on CBD property owners on March 1.
On the panel were CBRE’s land tax specialist Dane Carruthers, building and depreciation specialist Neale Scott, director of middle markets and city sales Josh Rutman, retail leasing specialist Zelman Ainsworth and Minter Ellison’s Ben Dodgshun.
The panel discussed the government’s recent changes to the land tax legislation, how property owners could effectively challenge land tax assessments and maximise depreciation benefits.
Mr Carruthers from CBRE said the hike on land tax could result in commercial rental increase.
“When property owners pay more land tax, they get that subsidised from the rent. So the tenants will end up paying more rent,” he said.
The land tax expert said this would mean that many small independent businesses would not be able to afford the rent in the CBD and instead more international and chain operators would snap up properties.


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- Mobile ordering brings in more customers (namely, those that value the convenience and speed these apps provide).
- Ordering ahead via mobile app reduces bottlenecks in the drive-thru lane or at the counter, allowing greater throughput.
- Mobile ordering reduces bottlenecks in the kitchen, as orders are typically received well in advance of customer pickup, giving staff time to prep and fulfill orders without holding up the entire operation.
- Mobile ordering reduces the need for face-to-face conversations between staff and customers, keeping everyone safer during the pandemic. (This can also facilitate contactless delivery or curbside pickup).
- Mobile ordering apps can encourage customers to order more frequently and/or try new menu items with features such as loyalty/rewards programs, push notifications, and gamification elements such as achievements, leveling up, and more.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit the American restaurant industry hard in 2020, forcing a dining-room shutdown almost everywhere, instilling fear and uncertainty over customer and employee safety, and generally changing the way restaurant businesses must operate in order to safely serve guests. For most businesses, it has been a difficult crisis to successfully navigate.
Not all restaurant concepts suffered equally, however. In a recent story from QSR Magazine, the periodical reported that location technology company Bluedot’s second “State of What Feeds Us” report found that 74 percent of people have visited a drive thru the same amount or more often than usual since COVID-19 landed. That’s a 43-percent jump in growth from April.
The report only confirms what we in the QSR sector have already seen with our own eyes: Consumers are leaning on drive thrus to avoid crowds and contact during the coronavirus crisis. It’s no secret why, either: In addition to their natural convenience, drive-thru lanes reduce human contact, and therefor the risk of viral transmission. They have also not been affected by dining-room shutdowns. For these reasons, QSR concepts with drive-thrus have enjoyed a critical lifeline and advantage over restaurants that do not.
No one really knows exactly how long this pandemic will last, or how it will affect QSR consumer trends afterwards. But in our new age of social distancing, the shift of focus away from the on-premise dining room is likely to alter customer preferences well beyond the current period. For QSR businesses to flourish in both normal and uncertain conditions, they must be technology-enabled, efficient, and safe for customers.
As one of the world’s largest and most successful QSR franchise owners, the Dhanani Group is helping to lead the way in restoring consumer confidence in dining safety. This requires extreme flexibility and learning on the fly as our restaurants across the United States pivot to contactless ordering, pickup, and transactions. These options will all be critical design considerations moving forward as we work to expand our business, along with tech-based sanitation solutions.
Many QSR franchises have already experimented with order-ahead pickup lanes inside their restaurants. Permanent drive-thru pickup lanes may follow. The more convenient we make the experience for guests, the safer they will feel and the more satisfied they will be. But as we continue to adapt to new challenges, we know we can continue to rely on the drive-thru lane to be our greatest asset in attracting business during the pandemic.
What is a QSR franchise—and why would I want to own one? That’s a common question from people outside our industry, and we certainly understand why! After all, not everyone is an expert on franchising, or the food service industry, for that matter. To explain, then, let’s start with the basics: “QSR” stands for “quick service restaurant.”
What is a quick service restaurant? Well, a quick service restaurant is any kind of food service business that serves its food quickly. Some may have a drive-through window; some may have counter service. Almost none of them, however, have a wait staff. In other words, a QSR is not what we typically think of as a “sit-down restaurant.”
To many people, QSRs are known as “fast food” restaurants. We don’t use that term for a couple of reasons. First, “fast food” has a negative connotation to some people and we don’t think negatively about our franchises. Second, “fast food” doesn’t quite capture all the different types of quick service restaurant franchises that we own and operate.
A QSR franchise restaurant like the ones the Dhanani Group, Inc. operates is an individual restaurant location that’s part of a larger, franchised chain of restaurants. Some QSR franchises are part of national or even international brands; others are smaller, more regional chains. But each franchise location is independently owned.
A QSR franchise owner like the Dhanani Group, Inc. contracts with a restaurant business to sell that company’s food products. After paying an initial fee and agreeing to pay the company a certain percentage of revenue, a franchise owner can use the company’s name, logo, and guidance to create a successful business.
The Dhanani Group, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful QSR franchise owners in the world. We own and operate hundreds of QSR franchises across the United States. Our first franchise was a co-branded Burger King restaurant in Houston, Texas that we purchased in 1994. We haven’t stopped growing since. The reason why is simple: Everybody needs to eat, so there is a market for QSR franchises!
If you would like to know more about our family of dynamic QSR companies or join our winning team, contact us today. We are always interested in partnering with smart, driven individuals who are willing to put in the time and effort necessary to succeed at this level.
Amin Dhanani didn’t have to look far for a business role model: his father came from Pakistan 37 years ago with 11 children and $50 in his pocket. Although his father didn’t speak English, he became a successful entrepreneur with convenience stores and gas stations. His work ethic still wows his children.
Apparently, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree: Dhanani, just 38, recently was named Franchisee of the Year by Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. He was also recognized with the Mega-Growth Leadership MVP award for expanding his Popeyes franchise to 125 restaurants (40 of them new builds) in just 5 years.
“I think this kind of drive and ambition is part of our family’s way of doing business,” says the owner and president of Sugar Land, Tex.-based Z&H Foods. “Everybody’s like that. It started with my dad, who is 83 but still gets excited about any new deals we come up with. I go to him for advice. His blessing is still important for anything I do.”
Dhanani and his siblings grew up working in the family business, which included service stations, convenience stores, and Burger Kings. “I worked my way up from assistant manager to GM to district manager to director of operations, so I brought 10 years of operations experience to the table when I acquired my Popeyes franchise,” he says. “Burger King provided a great platform to learn from.”
Even while growing at warp speed, the young husband and father of two believes he’s been able to maintain the quality of his restaurants, now in four states (Texas, Arizona, Colorado, and Missouri), by being very hands-on.
Nor does Dhanani have any plans to slow down any time soon. He’s aiming for another 10 “organic” stores and other new acquisitions in 2015. And he’s taking his team along for the ride.
“I’ve learned that people become excited about growth,” he says. “They love to be part of something new. It’s human nature.”
Name: Amin Dhanani
Title: Owner and president, Z&H Foods
No. of units: 125 Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen
Family: Wife Saeeda, daughter Summer, son Ary
Years in franchising: 25
Years in current position: 5
My father, a great businessman, has been a great influence on me. He’s a true American story coming from Pakistan with 11 kids and little money and starting his own business.
Getting into the Popeyes system in 2010 and making a large 49-store acquisition in 2012. In 2013, after always doing business in Houston, I branched out into other cities and states. It’s been a great year. A few weeks before I received the MVP award, I was named Franchisee of the Year at Popeyes’ annual conference in Orlando.
I’m gone about half the month. Monday through Friday I’m on the road or in the office, and on weekends I’m with my family as much as possible.
What are you reading?
by Popeyes CEO Cheryl Bachelder. She’s a great motivator.
Best advice you ever got:
To always take care of my people and to make them feel part of a team.
What’s your passion in business?
I love growth. It excites me and keeps me going.
Work hard, take care of your people, and live a balanced life.
Management method or style:
I’m hands-on and very involved in my business. I know almost all my upper store managers and a lot of the GMs.
To balance my life between work and family and hobbies (basketball, football, golf).
How do others describe you?
As a very aggressive entrepreneur at a young age.
How do you hire and fire, train and retain?
I don’t do it that much anymore, but we retain by being competitive with pay, offering good compensation packages, and caring for our employees. We have grown a lot in five years and people ask me, “How do you get managers for all those stores?” They just come by word of mouth. When you take care of your people, word gets out because all the managers from different brands in the market know each other.
To grow another 10 Popeyes stores organically and to keep looking for more acquisitions in the brand.
Growth meter: How do you measure your growth?
By top-line sales. I believe growing top-line sales will fix everything on the P&L to give you a better bottom line.
Vision meter: Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years?
In 5 years, I’d like to grow with the brand to about 300 restaurants. In 10 years, I’ll still be with the brand, hitting maybe 400 stores. Then I’ll start looking to focus more on personal goals, such as more charity work, more international travel, and coaching a basketball team.
What are you doing to take care of your employees?
We always give them a good compensation package, bonuses, and annual reviews for salary or wage increases. We also give them the tools in the restaurant that require more repair and maintenance, such as fryers, AC, and headsets.
What kind of exit strategy do you have in place?
I would love it if my kids became involved in the business as they grow up.
2015 MVP: Mega-Growth Leadership Award
Why do you think you were recognized with this award?
I think 125 restaurants in 5 years is the answer.
How have you raised the bar in your own company?
By telling them I want to be the best franchisee in the brand–in operations metrics, sales, and development. I’m currently seven stores behind the largest franchisee. I hope to pass that in about six months. That will be a major milestone.
What innovations you have created and used to build your company?
I was the first one in the system to put in digital menu boards (Houston) four years ago and the brand started taking off on that two years ago. I was the first franchisee to do a 60-seat prototype (San Antonio) when everybody was doing 48-seaters. Most recently, I did my own prototype in Arizona. It’s larger for higher-volume stores and Popeyes is now adopting the prototype.
What core values do you think helped you win this award?
I started from the ground up and worked very hard.
How important is community involvement to you and your company?
We have a global charity trust that helps where needed inside and outside the United States.
What leadership qualities are important to you and your team?
Three things I truly believe, and I live by: You observe, you delegate, and then you follow up. All three need to work together. If you leave one out, the whole system falls.
Shoukat Dhanani, 60, isn’t the type of entrepreneur who courts publicity, but his company, Dhanani Group, has gotten too big to ignore.
Dhanani Group is the largest franchisee in the Popeyes system, as well as a giant Burger King franchisee, making it the nation’s third-largest restaurant franchisee, with 2015 revenues of $871 million, according to trade publication Franchise Times. But those numbers capture only a piece of the group’s businesses, which include convenience stores and gas delivery, as well as the franchised restaurants. In a recent conversation, Dhanani told me that “if you add everything up, it would be over $2 billion” – an amount that would likely qualify Sugar Land, Tex.-based Dhanani Group for FORBES’ list of America’s Largest Private Companies.
Dhanani’s story is a classic tale of entrepreneurship, and how a hard-working family can build a giant, and highly succcessful, business without venture capital or private equity money. The group today includes 130 convenience stores in the Houston area, 502 Burger Kings and 170 Popeyes. It remains 100% family owned and operated. “We always believed in staying low-key and under the radar,” says Dhanani. “That’s what our dad taught us.”
Dhanani’s father, Hassan Ali Dhanani, who died earlier this year, was a born businessman and the family’s guiding force. Back in Pakistan, Dhanani recalls, his father started working at age 13, rolling cigarettes by hand and packing them for sale. “He could smell the money everywhere,” says Dhanani, who immigrated to the U.S. to attend college. “He saw opportunities and he guided us. He taught us business.”
The business, which dates to 1976, began with convenience stores. Dhanani moved into restaurant franchising in 1994, with Burger King. “In those days, co-branding fast food and convenience stores was just being talked about, and I thought it was a great idea,” Dhanani says. He opened what he believes was the first one. “It was just a corner dedicated to Burger King,” he recalls.
Over the past few years, as restaurant franchisees have gotten bigger and bigger (for our magazine story on America’s largest restaurant franchisee, see here), Dhanani’s operation has grown exponentially. In early-2010, he figures, the group had only 40 Burger Kings, but then they started making acquisitions. “We had a lot of cash. The economy was good. And it was a great time to buy out troubled franchisees,” he says. By 2012, the group had roughly doubled in size.
Dhanani focused on buying struggling restaurants, and turning them around. “We consolidated pretty much the whole Houston market, where we are still dominant,” he says. “We bought those restaurants that were run by franchisees who were not doing well financially for some time. The facilities were old and tired. We remodeled all the restaurants.” He figures that when he bought restaurants, they averaged around $1 million in sales, and that his restaurants are now in the range of the national average for Burger King, around $1.35 million.
In 2012, Dhanani moved outside Houston for the first time, making a large acquisition of 100 Burger Kings in the New England area. “We doubled our size overnight,” he says. “We had to put the infrastructure and be ready for what to do when you are managing long distance.” Then, in November 2014, Dhanani acquired another 255 restaurants from Blackstone Group, again doubling in size.
It was a similar story in Popeyes, which is now run by Amin Dhanani. “Our timing was perfect getting started with Popeyes,” Shoukat Dhanani recalls. “That was after Popeyes CEO Cheryl Bachelder had started with Popeyes, and she has done a marvelous job with the brand. We just got on it when the brand was on the upswing with a couple of Popeyes in Houston.” More acquisitions, and some development followed, bringing the Popeyes holdings to 170, over the past five years.
The convenience stores now are a slow-growth business, but as consolidation continues apace in the restaurant business, Dhanani continues to see opportunities. “Our plan is to still continue to grow with Popeyes and Burger King,” he says. “We are looking at different other opportunities, like fast casual or fine dining.”
But he’s in no rush as prices for deals go higher. “When you have too much money chasing opportunities, the prices keep going higher,” he says, “and I’m not used to paying higher prices or market prices. If we have to wait two years or five years it doesn’t matter.”
The one thing he won’t do, however, is go looking for Wall Street money, as many other restaurant franchisees have. Outside money, after all, always comes with strings, tying you to someone else’s strategy and vision. “I would never put up with that,” Dhanani says. “As an entrepreneur, I like the flexibility and the freedom of making my own decisions rather than wondering what Wall Street is going to think.”


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Rihanna to release seventh album
10/11/2012 7:25:44 PM
NEW YORK, Oct. 11 (UPI) --
Rihanna says her seventh studio album, "Unapologetic," will be released worldwide next month through the U.S. record label Island Def Jam.
The six-time Grammy Award winner's seventh album in seven years is to arrive in stores Nov. 19.
"Diamonds," the first single off her latest CD, is already a hit.


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Hyundai Grand i10 in India is known as simply i10 in the international markets. The facelift of the car will be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October but before that the company has officially revealed the car through pictures.
This is the European spec car but the Indian market will see a similar update next year. Even though most of the features would not be carried on the Indian model.
The new car has received a new grille up front with an interesting design and round LED daytime running lamps, a feature that would not make to the Indian model. The fog lamp enclosures are now updated and look sleeker that before.
With the facelift, Hyundai retains the shape of the car exactly as the current model. There are new 14-inch alloy wheels. The rear end receives an all-new bumper with black inserts and circular fog lamps. The side mouldings have been updated but it does not make the car look any different from the current version.
On the inside, the new i10 will come with updated trim colors and new material. In the international model, there will be a 7-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, front collision warning and lane departure warning. Even though Hyundai packs a lot of equipment in the Indian models, the safety features are not expected to be in the Indian model.
The car will be powered by a 1.0-litre and 1.25-litre petrol engines in the European markets but the India will get the same engines that power the current Grand i10. It will be powered by 1.2-litre petrol engine that produces 82 Bhp of maximum power and 1.1-litre diesel engine that produces 70 Bhp of maximum power. Both the cars come with 5-speed manual transmission but the petrol also comes with an optional 4-speed automatic transmission.


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BNZ has launched a marketing push to capture a bigger share of the youth market by launching a customisable internet banking product designed to be as easy to use as Facebook.
Customers who sign up for the bank's "YouMoney" product will be able to add photo avatars to accounts and payees, open and close new accounts with one click, and set savings goals which can be tracked by progress bars.
The product is part of the bank's focus on being relevant to those in the 18-29 age group, which presents a "significant opportunity", said director of retail Andy Symons.
"New Zealand banks have traditionally not seen young customers as 'uber-attractive' from a profitability point of view."
"But a bank that doesn't stay relevant will just fade away."
A key message which emerged during discussions with focus groups was that internet banking was typically complicated and boring, Symons said.
"We kept hearing that Facebook's really easy but banking's not."
"Young people told us they want their personal banking to be easy and intuitive so that's what we've created," he said.
Symons described YouMoney as "the future of banking".
Features include being able to filter transactions by key words or amounts, drag and drop funds between accounts and payees, and creating accounts with a relevant photo.
Someone saving for a trip to the South Island could use a photo of Mt Cook as the profile image for that particular account, for example.
"YouMoney can be personalised to reflect your future plans, your spending patterns, or even just your favourite colours," Symons said.
Those who use the product will pay a flat fee of $5 per month for an unlimited number of transactions, and it will be free for students and graduates.
It is available on desktop from today and goes live for Android and iPhone users in March. The bank has no plans to launch on Windows 8 yet.
BNZ plans to develop the product further, based on customer feedback, Symons said.


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In his new role, Martin will be responsible for creating and running programs that drive upskilling of graduates and IT professionals across the region.
Microsoft tells us, Martin is a visionary thinker who is passionate about the development of the African youth. He also brings to the role a wealth of experience in the technology space.
Africa is geared to becoming the youngest continent with the fastest-growing emerging markets, Martin Ndlovu shares. It is clear that for Africa to be competitive on the global market, its young population needs to embrace digital skills. As that[digital skills] will soon be a part of every industry conceivable.
Herein lies our goal to impart the skills that will enable every person and every organization on the continent to achieve more, he concludes.
In June this year, Microsoft 4Afrika rebranded its AppFactory program to SkillsLab. The company notes that about 2455 youths have graduated from 25 SkillsLab across Africa and the Middle East.
- Data Analyst, Microsoft Leap program cohort is launching in Lagos
- ASUS introduces new laptops at CES 2021 Be Ahead event
- TCL announces new 5G mobile, tablet, wearable devices at CES 2021 Experience More event
- World’s first Artificial Intelligence university welcomes first students
- A self-caring planting system controlled by AI, New Garden
- Nigeria FG, Microsoft to make Nigeria’s tech space most viable in Africa
- The “coolest” new computer device, meet Raspberry Pi-powered robotics kit, pi-top
- Blue Prism brings enterprise-grade intelligent robotic process automation to Azure
- This computer vision innovation will make it easy to make M-PESA business payments
- Tech4Dev, Microsoft empower women in Nigeria with tech skills


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FTX Taps Solana and Sports Legends to Score Big in NFTs
OpenSea better watch its back. Crypto investors have known for weeks that FTX, the offshore exchange that handles about $40B in daily trading volume, was spooling up an NFT minting operation. Then word came early this week that the Hong Kong-based platform was going to enable its customers to withdraw NFTs from FTX on either…
By: Owen Fernau •DeFi News
OpenSea better watch its back.
Crypto investors have known for weeks that FTX, the offshore exchange that handles about $40B in daily trading volume, was spooling up an NFT minting operation. Then word came early this week that the Hong Kong-based platform was going to enable its customers to withdraw NFTs from FTX on either the Ethereum or Solana blockchains.
“We are working directly with creators of top collections on Solana and Ethereum to ensure that our marketplace meets their needs, and ensures authenticity and proper curation of these collections in our store front,” tweeted Brett Harrison, president of FTX US, yesterday.
That’s no small thing. Thanks to its high-speed processing and lower costs, Solana has been a red hot player this year — its token SOL has tripled in the last 30 days and now sports a market capitalization of $47.5B, according to CoinGecko data.
Moreover, FTX is rapidly becoming a household name in crypto. Taking a page from the playbook of traditional corporations, FTX has embraced professional sports as a time-honored way to make a splash in the marketplace. In March, FTX paid $135M for the naming rights to the arena where the Miami Heat basketball team plays its home games. A few months later, it signed a deal with Major League Baseball, and with Tom Brady, the crypto-loving, Super Bowl winning quarterback, who took an equity stake in FTX and became a “brand ambassador.”
Yesterday, NBA star Stephen Curry followed suit with his own FTX partnership. The championship-winning point guard has recently started using a Bored Ape NFT for his profile picture on Twitter. Both he and Brady could launch collections of NFTs connected to their sports careers on FTX’s platform. This all bodes well for FTX’s NFT push.
The Miami Heat now play in the FTX Arena
“They keep racking up new super influential people who I think can be big brands that funnel NFT-style things onto the platform,” said Mario Gabriele, the founder of The Generalist tech newsletter.
Yet in terms of distribution, the Solana move could be especially influential in making FTX a formidable competitor in the burgeoning NFT retail space. More liquidity tends to attract NFT creators and that could turn FTX’s minting platform into a go-to destination for new projects.
FTX isn’t stopping at primary sales either. Users will also be able to transfer their NFTs from the Solana and Ethereum blockchains for resale on secondary markets. This puts FTX in competition with Ethereum-focused OpenSea, which facilitated over 1.6M NFT trades in August.
Users will be able to buy NFTs directly from FTX with a bank account, credit card, or crypto, according to Harrison. That may be a smoother process compared to OpenSea, which requires the know-how to use an Ethereum wallet like MetaMask.
FTX’s FTT token was down 6.6% in the last 24 hours amid the broader swoon in the crypto markets.


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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Wednesday it had linked fresh, whole onions to an outbreak of salmonella in at least 37 states, including California, Texas, and Virginia.
The agency said to immediately throw away any unlabeled onions — without stickers or packaging — in your home. In addition, you should not consume onions from an unidentifiable source.
CDC officials also urged people not to “eat, sell, or serve red, white, or yellow onions” imported from Mexico and distributed nationwide by ProSource Inc.
More than 650 people have reported becoming ill from the onions, and at least 129 people have been hospitalized so far. Salmonella can cause stomach cramps, prolonged diarrhea, vomiting, a fever, or dehydration. Symptoms typically begin within six hours to six days after eating the bacteria, and most people recover within a week, the CDC said.
Experts also said to wash and sanitize any surfaces that may have come in contact with the raw onions.
Texas and Oklahoma saw the highest numbers of people infected, a data map showed, with 158 and 98 respectively. The CDC said 37 people in Illinois, 21 in Missouri, seven in Pennsylvania, and at least nine people in California had been sickened.
The CDC said ProSource sold to restaurants and grocery stores across the U.S. Although the company claimed it last imported the vegetable from Chihuahua, Mexico, in late August, much of the produce is stored for up to three months. So many homes and businesses could still have some of the onions.
Investigators are looking into whether any other onions or suppliers are linked to this outbreak.


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In addition to making Liu the highest-profile Chinese businessperson to be accused publicly of sexual misconduct, the case has raised concerns that loss-making Nasdaq-listed JD.com could face difficulties making decisions due to its unusual governance structure.
The company said he had been on a business trip in the United States when he was questioned about an "unsubstantiated accusation", according to a statement posted on Sunday to the Chinese social network Weibo.
Police in the U.S. haven't released the name of the complainant but Chinese social media users circulated photos of a young woman whom they said was the victim.
Elder said he did not know if Liu was being represented in the case by a lawyer. The company had 292.5 million active customer accounts in 2017 and reaped a net profit of 50.8 billion yuan, or $US7.8 billion, in its 2017 fiscal year, the company said in its annual statement. He is worth an estimated $7.3 billion, CBS News reported.
Liu built JD.com from scratch.
Samsung and LG both launch 8K displays at IFA
LG is drip feeding information about the screen, but we should know more as IFA progresses. Samsung is one of the first companies to present new products at IFA 2018 in Berlin.
Zhang Shuhan, a JD.com official, said Monday by phone that "Liu Qiangdong has been released without charges and he is now back in China".
JD.com denied the charge against Liu.
JD said it planned to make a selection of items available for sale in places like Europe and the USA through Google Shopping, which allows shoppers to search for products and compare prices on different e-commerce sites.
Founded in 1998, the Fortune Global 500 company is China's second-largest e-commerce firm and an aggressive competitor of Alibaba. She met Liu while studying in the United States and married him in 2015. The defendant was found guilty of seven offenses, according to a court document.
Trade in JD.com shares is set to resume on Tuesday as US markets are closed for the Labor Day holiday on Monday.
Liu, who also goes by the name, "Richard Liu", is registered as a student in the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management doctor of business administration China program, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.


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Given the impact COVID-19 has had on all sectors of the economy, tomorrow‘s presentation of the mid-year budget will by far be the most anticipated budget review by individual citizens and the business community.
The following highlights what the general populace may expect in the mid-year budget review with Ken Ofori-Atta.
Mid-year Budget review and the Business community
The business community especially those in the tourism and travel sector as well as the hospitality sector which includes hotels and restaurants will be looking forward to know the pragmatic steps the government has laid down and implemented to revive the ailing sectors. Travel bans are still being enforced, social gathering protocols of up to a 100 are also being enforced making it difficult for businesses in such sectors as the hospitality to stay in business. Jobs have been lost as a result.
Mid-year budget review and schools
Let’s not forget our schools which are still closed but only have final year students in schools to complete their examination. Teachers in the public sectors are still receiving their salaries while those in the private sector have either seized payment of salaries to teachers and non-teaching staff or cut down significantly on their salaries. Teaching and non-teaching staff, especially in the private sector will be looking forward to schools reopening and other incentives to help them survive in this challenging times.
Many countries across the globe are still battling with significant rise in COVID-19 cases and as such have closed down their borders to international trade. This has impacted negatively on those in the import-export business. Businesses in this sector will be looking out for how the government plans to reopen its own borders and the kind of incentives they will receive to salvage losses.
Individual citizens will be looking forward to stimulus packages that can help them start a business or improve upon their current businesses.
Though the business community and individual citizens are facing worse economic times, so is the government with revenue mobilization at an all-time low.
May 2020 Fiscal Development Report indicated a more than 82 percent shortfall in revenue from the oil sector. GH¢1.9billion was the projected revenue to be gained from the oil sector in the first quarter, but only GH¢331million was realized.
In addition, with border closures and movement restrictions, international trade activities came to a halt and thus affected import revenue. Import duty fell well over 34 percent below the targeted budget.
The Finance Minister will be expected to show how funds received was used diligently in alleviating the economic impacts of the coronavirus. According to the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, the Finance Minister will take the opportunity to explain how the government intends to reimburse the ₵1.2 billion, an equivalent of $219 million it took from the Contingency Fund to finance the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP).
Also, Ken Ofori Atta will be expected to explain how the $1 billion credit facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was used to provide relief packages to Ghanaians.


text: The last century's technological revolution has made traveling the world by air, land, and sea easier and more affordable than ever. However, the travel industry that fuels billions of trips each year is helpless against a virus that demands we stay put. Every day that stay-at-home orders extend is another day individuals and families cancel flights, cruises, Airbnbs, conferences, campsites, and road trips. “This is the worst time of the year for this to happen,” says Isabel Hill, director of the Commerce Department’s National Tourism Office. “This is the season—spring and summer—when the travel and tourism makes a significant amount of revenue.” The consequences are bleak. If this virus's spread and government lockdowns continue into the summer, the World Travel and Tourism Council estimates a global loss of 75 million jobs and $2.1 trillion in revenue. If you glazed over those massive numbers or don't have the context to know what that actually means, just know it's bad—like, really bad. Tourism has blossomed into one of the world's largest economic sectors, contributing over 330 million jobs worldwide and comprising 10.3% of the global GDP. And it's overcome setbacks before, like its massive bounce-back after shrinking 31.6% following 9/11. However, this crisis is different. “The impact on travel is 6 or 7 times greater than the 9/11 attacks,” says Roger Dow, president and CEO of the US Travel Association. With millions of jobs and trillions in revenue expected to disappear this year, can the travel industry survive in the wake of COVID-19? Will the gradual reopening of the US economy offer a light at the end of the tunnel, or is the tunnel about to get a lot darker? Let's explore a few likely outcomes and possibilities. Big Businesses Suffer Big Losses It's not hard to upset an industry that's so dependent on incoming cash flow. With high tourism demand soaring in recent years, big businesses took big risks to invest in the future. Now, the average international carrier has fewer than 2 months of rainy day funds on hand. Apple, on the other hand, has enough cash savings to cover 6 years of expenses—nearly 3,500% more! Hotels are feeling the COVID-19 pain, too, with upscale urban and resort lodgings suffering the worst revenue losses. Mid-tier and economy hotels in interstate and small-town locations are seeing less than half the revenue decline compared to classier accommodations. Government aid packages for both "distressed industries" (the travel industry would definitely fall into that category) and small businesses will go a long way in keeping doors open until travel resumes again—that is if travel resumes again. The Cruise Industry Has a Dangerous PR Problem Before COVID-19, cruise lines had worked hard to paint an idyllic picture of big-boat vacations. Now, cruises will be associated with being stranded at sea while a deadly virus ravages the ship. Becoming a poster child for this pandemic is far from a great image for the industry. With cruise sailings being pushed deep into the summer (or beyond), the cruise industry is in deep trouble. Worst of all, these companies aren't eligible for government financing or bailouts because they're not technically American businesses—many cruise companies have chosen to locate their headquarters overseas to avoid federal taxes and US regulations. Now, with cruise ships becoming floating infection vessels, expect countries to implement new regulations just in time for these ships to make their recovery voyages. A Glimmer of Hope in the East China, ground zero for the pandemic, provides some insight into what the travel industry might look like in a few months. When the country lifted restrictions, travel bookings saw a 50% jump, hotel bookings rose by 60%, and train reservations doubled. Domestic tourism is projected to see a significant recovery, in large part due to severe limitations on international travel. The travel industry in the East isn't fixed, but it's headed in the right direction. There's hope that the US can see the same bounce-back when domestic travel restrictions are lifted, although the US economic trajectory is a little less optimistic than China's. Whether international travel restrictions will impact the recovery rate of China is yet to be seen. If international travel remains restricted, then US citizens will spend more of their travel budget on domestic soil. However, the US will lose out on the approximately 80 million international arrivals who typically spend around $4,200 each when they visit. Domestic Travel Becomes the New Thing With Americans hunting for jobs and cautiously spending their unemployment checks, travel plans will likely take a backseat. For those who are in a position to travel, it's going to look different for the rest of 2020 and 2021. Even if the US government removes its international travel restrictions, the countries that tourists want to visit must do the same in order for trips to happen. And with the coronavirus raging at different levels and speeds across the globe, fear of contracting the virus will likely keep travelers close(r) to home. Still, people love to travel, so watch for domestic hotspots to fill up quickly once this pandemic passes. Over the next 12 to 18 months, warm beachfront properties will sell out, and national park accommodations will face massive surges. The Sooner, the Better The longer that stay-at-home orders extend, the harder it will be for the travel industry to recover from this pandemic. Every day means more lost revenue, jobs, and businesses. The sooner we lift our travel bans, the better for the travel industry. However, the coronavirus still isn't contained, so any premature easing of restrictions could cause another wave of infections, more deaths, and more long-term damage to the economy. China's restoration shows us that the travel industry can rally, but it's going to need to be patient to do it right. That's easier said than done with the peak traveling season fast approaching—but at least there's a tiny light at the end of the tunnel.


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Some Ohio Restaurants Requiring Customer To Be Masked At Drive-Thrus
Some Ohio restaurants are now requiring guests wear masks at the drive-thru window, following Gov. Mike DeWine’s latest mask and social distancing orders announced during his statewide address last week.
Ohio Restaurant Association spokeswoman Homa Moheimani said the group has had a list of best practices in place for restaurants throughout the coronavirus pandemic. And while it’s up to each restaurant whether people should be masked at the window, wearing one is a good idea for both employees and customers, she said.
“We want to follow science and data saying that masks are helpful. Anytime that I've gone out for drive-thru or a pick-up, employees are wearing their masks," Moheimani said. "They're adhering to all the guidelines. You know, restaurants want to stay open; they want to stay in business. They do this because they love it. So they're doing everything that they can to go above and beyond to keep their employees and guests safe.”
The full Ohio Restaurant Association’s guidelines include suggestions for socially distanced seating, providing hand sanitizer for guests, and closing buffets and salad bars.
Copyright 2020 WKSU. To see more, visit WKSU.


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Chances are, you’re well aware of the myriad of circumstances that have made planning a wedding right now incredibly challenging—both for the couple getting married and for their hard-working team of vendors. While it’s undoubtedly a huge plus that weddings can actually happen to a greater degree of normal than we’ve seen in the last year-and-a-half, it’s certainly not without strife.
This is especially true when it comes to your wedding-day blooms. Though the pandemic had a lasting effect on so many industries, the flower world is one of the slowest to recover. “When the world shut down last March, the borders to many countries closed, which left growers with nowhere to ship all their product,” explains Kimberly Sisti is a San Diego-based wedding planner and owner and designer of Sisti & Co. “As a result, many went out of business without any way to keep themselves afloat, and the farms that were able to stay in business had no idea what or how much to plant.”


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Red Dead Redemption 2 will launch in spring 2018, piublisher Rockstar Games announced. The game, which is headed to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, was originally set to be released this fall. “This outlaw epic set across the vast and unforgiving American heartland will be the first Rockstar game created from the ground up for the latest generation of console hardware, and some extra time is necessary to ensure that we can deliver the best experience possible for our fans,” the company said in a post.
Previous Rockstar titles for PS4 and Xbox One, namely Grand Theft Auto 5, launched first on last-gen systems. To make up for the delay, Rockstar Games promised fans of the Western action series two things: that there would be “more details about the game this summer” and a selection of new screenshots to check out.


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By Amara Christa
Nigeria has now added two new countries to the list of high-risk countries from which entry to Nigeria by travelers has been restricted: AUSTRIA and SWEDEN.
The restrictions involve the temporary suspension of all visas issued to nationals from these countries.
Nigerians arriving from AUSTRIA and SWEDEN will be subjected to supervised isolation for 14 days.
We are also advising all Nigerians to avoid traveling to these countries at the moment.
These travel and visa restrictions will take effect from Friday 20 March 2020, for 4 weeks subject to review.
Therefore, the list of countries from which Nigeria is restricting entry for travellers has therefore now grown from 13 to 15: China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, United States of America, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and Sweden.


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Experts in digital safety
New annual report looks online video, social media, video games and education apps and in the hands of today’s digital natives across the U.S., the U.K. and Spain, and provides insights and advice on the new normal
- Today, on average a child in the U.S. watches nearly 100 minutes of YouTube per day,
- A child in the U.K. spends nearly 70 minutes on TikTok per day
- A child in Spain plays Roblox over 90 minutes a day
- 100% more children everywhere are spending time learning online.
Today Qustodio, leaders in digital safety and wellbeing, released its 2020 report on children’s digital habits entitled “Connected More Than Ever: Apps and digital natives: the new normal”. The report looks at trends and insights on children’s screen-time habits based on app use across three major markets – the U.S., the U.K. and Spain – between 2019 and 2020. The report focuses on most popular online activities today – online video, social media, gaming and education – and includes practical advice for parents from leading experts in psychology, medicine, law and technology.
By the start of 2020, even before the coronavirus lockdowns, children were spending more time online than ever before. Doctors, psychologists and even the creators of apps themselves, were sounding alarms about online privacy, safety and wellbeing. Parents wanted to do the right thing for their children, but they told us they felt they couldn’t keep up with all the industry trends or with all the different apps that their children were using, and they didn’t know which advice and research to trust. The arrival of Covid-19 changed the landscape dramatically and made the need for accurate information and reliable advice all the more urgent.
That’s why Qustodio designed this report to help parents get up to speed as quickly as possible on the news about the apps their kids likely use most, understand what is typical behavior for children like theirs, and learn what they can do to help avoid any potential problems and create good digital habits.
According to Eduardo Cruz, Qustodio CEO and co-founder, “We now live in a world with an estimated 25 billion connected devices worldwide. Many of those in the hands of children. In these times of hyper-connectivity and de-escalation, we must redouble our efforts to protect our children. It is our job to do everything possible to protect and guide them online. If we have digital children, we must be digital parents.”
We also designed this report to be useful to leaders in technology, government and health, who look to our insights to help them continue to alert the public about the potential dangers of excessive online activity and to push for better legislation to protect children.
This report is Qustodio’s first of study into children’s digital habits and we will follow up on these insights on an annual basis. It is also a companion report to the Digital Wellbeing study we released in March that looked at both parents’ and children’s attitudes toward their technology. Both reports provide useful tips from experts to help families achieve safety and balance online in our hyper-connected world.
For media enquiries, contact firstname.lastname@example.org


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Hermes International’s Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Thomas, has told Bloomberg that he “is not optimistic at all” about the next six months because of a delayed economic recovery in Japan, the French luxury-goods maker’s biggest market.
Thomas said, “I’m not expecting to see the light of the tunnel before 2010. The Japanese economy is not good and we all feel it.”
The article goes on to say that Japan, where Hermes made 22 percent of last year’s 1.76 billion euros (US $2.6 billion) in sales, had 2.3 percent growth in the second quarter, less than initially estimated.
Hopefully the tide will turn for Hermes in Japan. In the meantime, the brand seems to be making all the right moves to attract luxury clients. For example, last month we reported the launch of a Hermes helicopter that transports customers from the airport to the city (refer to the MO Down for 10 August: Hermes Takes Customer Service To New Heights In Japan.)
And click here for the rest of Bloomberg’s interview with Patrick Thomas.


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Zen Magnets of Denver, Colo., is under a federal court order to stop selling recalled and dangerous high-powered magnets.
The ruling from federal judge Christine M. Arguello, which applies to the recalled magnets and magnets Zen commingled with them, stated that Zen Magnets “has essentially turned its pledge to continue to defy the CPSC into a marketing campaign” and has “openly vowed” not to stop selling the recalled magnets absent an injunction.
The court issued the injunction after finding a substantial likelihood that Zen Magnets had violated the Consumer Product Safety Act, which prohibits the sale of recalled products.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit against Zen Magnets and its owner Shihan Qu on May 5, 2015, alleging that Qu bought 917,000 magnets from Star Networks shortly before Star recalled the magnets, and then sold those magnets after they were recalled.
Victory for child safety
“The Court’s order to stop the ongoing sale of these recalled high-powered magnets is a big victory for the safety of children,” said CPSC Chairman Elliot F. Kaye. “Along with the U.S. Department of Justice, we will continue to move aggressively to enforce the law and protect consumers from the sale of recalled products, especially those that put children at risk.”
“The Justice Department will continue to work with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to enforce our consumer protection laws and protect consumers from dangerous products,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Efforts to evade the law and sell products that have already been recalled will not be tolerated.”
When a person ingests more than one magnet from a magnet set, there is damage to intestinal tissue, including tissue death. The magnets are attracted to each other in the digestive system, damaging the tissue that becomes trapped between the magnets. In many incidents, surgery has been required as the result of magnet ingestion.
High-powered magnet sets were found to be responsible for the death of a 19-month-old girl and, according to CPSC analysis, an estimated 2,900 emergency room-treated injuries between 2009 and 2013.


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Bullard is introducing an online training program for fire service and law enforcement professionals who buy its thermal imagers.
MSA has developed a new Defender Visor for modern-style Cairns helmets to deliver convenient eye protection.
The deaths of six Worcester (Mass.) firefighters in an inferno at a vacant six-story warehouse on Dec. 3, 1999, generated a pledge from faculty in the electrical and computer engineering department at Worcester Polytechnic Institute to apply their expertise to develop a system to find firefighters in similar hazardous situations.
This spring a number of fabric makers and manufacturers of turnout gear announced advancements in their products, many modified to reduce the weight of personal protective equipment, including CBRN garments.
Bullard has upgraded its industry-leading Wildfire helmet and re-designed the LT Series and USRX Series helmets, offering users superior comfort in helmet protection, according to the company.
Bullard has developed a new thermal imager with improved resolution called the T320TM. The new imager offers the value of a Bullard T3 series and improved 320 x 240 resolution.
If you are a firefighter, Roger Lackore wants your measurements - with your bunker gear on, thank you.
Lion Apparel, a world provider of firefighter protective clothing, has acquired National Safety Clean Inc., one of the industry's leading cleaning and repair services.
Fire-Dex, a manufacturer of quality protective firefighting clothing and emergency response apparel, announced a record year in 2006, marking the eighth consecutive year of double-digit growth.
In the first article, we discussed conducting risk assessment as the first step in the protective clothing selection process. Information was provided for how departments should conduct a hazard and risk assessment.


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Information Security News
New data shows that the majority of robot-enabled scam phone calls came from fewer than 40 call centers, a finding that offers hope the growing menace of robocalls can be stopped.
The calls use computers and the Internet to dial thousands of phone numbers every minute and promote fraudulent schemes that promise to lower credit card interest rates, offer loans, and sell home security products, to name just a few of the scams. Over the past decade, robocall complaints have mushroomed, with the Federal Trade Commission often receiving hundreds of thousands of complaints each month. In 2013, the consumer watchdog agency awarded $50,000 to three groups who devised blocking systems that had the potential to help end the scourge. Three years later, however, the robocall problem seems as intractable as ever.
On Thursday at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, a researcher said that slightly more than half of more than 1 million robocalls tracked were sent by just 38 telephony infrastructures. The relatively small number of actors offers hope that the phenomenon can be rooted out, by either automatically blocking the call centers or finding ways for law enforcement groups to identify and prosecute the operators.
by Andrew Cunningham
As part of a security presentation given at this year's Black Hat conference, Apple today announced that it would be starting up a bug bounty program in the fall. The program will reward security researchers who uncover vulnerabilities in Apple's products and bring them to the company's attention. Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and many other companies have offered bug bounty programs for some time now, but this is Apple's first.
For now, Apple is intentionally keeping the scope of the program small. It will initially be accepting bug reports from a small group of a few dozen security researchers it has worked with in the past. For now, bounties are only being offered for a small range of iDevice and iCloud bugs. The full list is as follows:
As the program continues and Apple works the, um, bugs out of its processes, the company will expand the list of eligible security researchers as well as the list of hardware and software bugs for which bounties are offered.
by Tom Mendelsohn
Large UK companies are amongst the hardest hit by ransomware in western countries according to a new report that found that more than half had been affected by it—and that nine percent had been left "entirely unable to operate."
Ransomware is clearly a growth industry in Britain; 58 percent of IT directors in this country have paid ransoms in the past, and the UK experiences more attacks than the Canada, Germany, and the US, where bosses are 21 times less likely to give in to hackers' demands.
Ransomware is malicious software which locks users out of key files or their entire system using tough encryption until the owner pays up. It's a relatively simple scam, and according to Malwarebytes, who commissioned the report, gaining rapidly in popularity. The vast majority of attacks are coming through an endpoint, with 46 percent originating from an e-mail.
We started to see a surge in attempts to exploit a well known back door in Netisrouters. The backdoor was first described in 2014 by TrendLabs . Netis routers are used predominantly in China, but can occasionally be found in other parts of the world.
Exploitation of the backdoor is easy: Any payload sent to %%port:53413%%/UDP is automatically executed. Various exploit tools for this issue are available, but probably all you need is netcat
rm -rf *.
bins.sh attempts to download some files compiled for the MIPS platform, which matches the affective Netis routers. Downloads are slow, indicating that the server delivering them may be rather busy, but the IP address above is not the only IP address seen in thse attacks. But att his point, it is highly unlikely that any vulnerable devices are still unexploited.


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According to the information disclosed by the digital chat station, a new model of Xiaomi K9 has been exposed, with a body thickness of only 6.81mm.
The 6.81mm body thickness is very thin in 5g mobile phones. The new Xiaomi K9 may be the youth version of Xiaomi 11.
The information also revealed other configuration information. The K9 Xiaomi new machine is equipped with a 6.55-inch single hole screen in the upper left corner and a 4150mah battery.
Author: Liu mingpeng


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Published on October 15th, 2020 | by Alex Novus
Cris Tales Delays into 2021 for Current and Next-Gen Consoles.
Modus Games today announced that the upcoming JRPG title Cris Tales will be delayed from its original November 17 release date. The classically-inspired game will now release in 2021. Cris Tales will be coming to both current and next-gen consoles, releasing on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
“The decision to delay was a tough one, but was made to ensure that the developers at Dreams Uncorporated and SYCK have a chance to bring the best version of Cris Tales to fans anxiously awaiting its release,” said Christina Seelye, CEO of Modus Games.
Members from the Modus Games development team along with Dream Uncorporated and SYCK CEO, Carlos Rocha Silva will be participating in an AMA on Reddit this Saturday at 6am AEDT. Join them for a possible sneak peek at some of what the team have been working on.